What's up doc
by Tjin
Summary: Is there a Doctor in the house? Xanders Real parent fic.


Xander happily walked into the house, the town was safe, the Mayor was kibble, Snyder was gone and Sunnydale High was a smoldering pile of rubble and he had just partied with his friends for the last several hours.

The fact that he had actually graduated and was ready to go on his 'roadtrip' was just icing on the cake.

Two steps into the house, Xander froze before stepping back outside and double checking the address. "This is the right house." He muttered to himself before walking back inside.

It was like some mirror image world, the floor was clean the shelves dusted, the furniture straightened. All in all a peaceful suburban home, nothing like the house he had left eight hours earlier.

The most amazing difference was the missing scent of alcohol that had permeated the Harris household for as long as he could remember.

"Mom," Xander yelled before taking a step back as Jessica Harris stepped out of the kitchen.

Had he seen her on the street Xander doubted he would have recognized her. Her back was straight, her eyes were clear, her makeup was subdued and she was smiling.

Wracking his memory, Xander tried to remember the last time he had seen her truly smiling. His thoughts where completely derailed when his mother stepped out of the kitchen and hugged him tightly. Stiffening for a moment Xander finally returned the hug awkwardly before stepping back. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my mom."

Straightening to her full five foot nine inches, Xander's mom lifted her chin defiantly. "I am Jessica Vastal Romina, and I killed her." The woman said as a hint of Russian accent drifted into her speech.

Taking a step back, Xander shifted into a defensive stance. "What?"

Looking at her son, Jessica nodded as her training started to reintegrate itself after being suppressed for so long under the influence of alcohol. "Very impressive, I see you have a warrior's talent. Not surprising considering your bloodline." Jessica said before getting back to the topic that concerned her son the most. "Jessica Harris no longer exists, that name, and the personality behind it, are of no further use to me."

Blinking, Xander tried to run the words through his mind before shaking his head in confusion. "Wait… What?"

Smiling at his confusion, Jessica motioned him towards the kitchen. "Come, sit, there is much we need to talk about."

Walking carefully into the kitchen, Xander sat at the small table and again wondered at the change this room had also undergone, dishes washed, counters cleaned.

Sitting across from her son, Jessica gave the boy a moment to calm himself before she started her story. "When I came to this country years ago with a child already growing within me, the world was a different place, Darker, colder. America and Russia where fighting a war in every dark alley in both this country and my own." The Russian immigrant said before looking at her hands. "The propaganda campaigns here were far more subtle then in Russia, far more devious. Had anyone known I was Russian I would have been arrested and tried as a spy. I would have spent the last nineteen years in a prison while you were raised by others. I could not allow that to happen, I was not completely without resources, thankfully. A student of the Academy is rarely without options, even a failure such as myself. I changed my name, hid my accent and ran away to someplace where there is no cause for the agents and spies of either country to look for me."

"Sunnydale." Xander supplied as his mother nodded.

Looking back up at her son, Jessica continued. "There is… was something evil in this place, I remember my actions, my words, everything, but I can not see what my intentions where, or the reasons behind them."

Looking at her, Xander could see the pain in her eyes.

"I wanted to protect you so much, Alexander. From my country, from your father… I never meant to abandon you as I did, then this morning I… woke up." Jessica explained as she forced the tears away. "If I wanted to leave you I would have stayed with your father…"

Xander perked up at that as it was the second time this had been brought up. "Wait my father, how is Tony…"

"Anthony Harris is NOT your father." Jessica said fiercely before calming herself. "After failing the Academy I was recruited into another service for my country, for my people. An alliance through birth between my Country and another, the alliance would have given the Russian people an edge over America and her U.N. puppets. Of all the candidates, I was the only one capable of carrying to term."

"Wait, so I'm the son of you and some king?" Xander asked in disbelief as his mother sighed.

"Not some King Alexander, You are the child of myself and his Royal Highness Victor Von Doom, King of Latveria."

In the small town of Sunnydale screams are commonplace, this was fortunate as no one wondered at the long drawn out scream of horror coming from the Harris House.

**Scene Break**

Victor Von Doom, King of Latveria glared at the report he had received recently.

It was only through force of will that the dictator managed to restrain his primary impulse of summoning up the dead spirit of one Richard Wilkins and forcing the being to feel pain unimaginable.

"He DARED to betray Doom in such a way." The king growled before rising from his throne and heading towards his research center.

While he had no doubt that his own lands would have been protected from the rampaging monster his one time ally had become, Victor was actually more curious about the ones responsible for stopping him.

After all, those capable of stopping a full demon may well stand against him in his own future endeavors.

And Doom made a habit of knowing his future enemies.

**Scene Break**

"Doom?" Xander said in shock for the eighth time.

"Again, yes, Alexander." Jessica said as her son paced back and forth in the small kitchen.

"Victor Doom, enemy of the Fantastic Four and would be ruler of the world, THAT Victor Von Doom is my father?." Xander asked just to make absolutely sure he and his mother were talking about the same person. Looking at her desperately, Xander ran his hands through his hair as he tried to figure out exactly when his life had become a soap opera. "I… you… When… HOW did this happen?" Xander asked tiredly as he slumped  
into the chair across from his mother.

Clearing her throat, Jessica took a breath. "Well Alexander when two consenting adults wish to…

Xander was lucky his horrified scream cut his mother off from any further commentary.

**Scene Break**

In a higher plane, two beings stared at the world below as they influenced chance and fate to move things further in their own chosen direction.

In that massive expanse, three words were spoken that summed up the most recent move by one of the sides.

"Well Played Sister."

**Scene Break**

Xander sat in his car as he stared at the steering wheel blankly.

It wasn't really his fault he was shell shocked. It wasn't every day you find out your entire life has been a lie your father was a notorious super villain dictator and your mother was trained as an assassin.

His mother had explained everything to him, her childhood in Russia, her training in the legendary 'Blackbird Academy' her failing said Academy, her time with his father and her escape from his lands.

Xander remembered sitting in shock as his mother spoke, filing all the data away in neat little blocks he would be able to look back on at a later time, a time when he was not fighting the urge to run screaming from the house in blind panic.

Taking a deep breath Xander let the new knowledge settle.

It wasn't like he was a monster himself, and if he was lucky his Evil Overlord of a father would never even know he existed.

**Scene Break**

Von Doom glared at the screen as his rage seethed and boiled within the kings psych.

Jessica had survived the attack; she had survived and fled to America with his child.

Nineteen years he had lost, nineteen years he should have had to mold his offspring into a worthy heir of the von Doom legacy.

Taking a shuddering breath to settle his emotions the king opened up the attached files concerning his child.

Three rather important files took immediate concern; the first was an observation order concerning his child in the possible theft of a rocket launcher. With a dismissive snort the would be ruler of the world sent out a command to one of his many flunkies, within twelve hours the theft would be resolved and a suitable member of the planets lowbred scum would be serving time for the crime.

For a moment he considered pinning it on one of his multiple super powered adversaries before dropping the thought.

Those sorts of plans always fell through, and this was one he wanted swept under the rug for all of history.

The second was an outstanding order from his one time ally Richard Wilkins to hamper the efforts of Alexander and his friends.

Considering his options, Von Doom grinned evilly as he sent a second order out, within hours, Detective Stein would find himself guilty of the theft of military hardware.

The third and most disturbing was the termination order from one Quentin Travers of England.

Growling darkly, the ruler made several subtle enquiries before sending a directive to the head of the legendary Order of Terraka.

Von Doom waited impatiently as the Order considered their options before dropping Travers' original contract for the monarch's.

Smiling again, Von Doom left the room in a flurry of movement.

He had a flight to California after all.

**Scene Break**

Victor Von Doom stepped off the airplane that had transported him to the small town of Sunnydale. It had taken some 'Creative' work to get here without the FBI, CIA, NSA, S.H.I.E.L.D. or some other annoyance finding out his destination and swarming the small town with secret agents and as many of those annoying 'Super heroes' as they could get here in time.

Not that Von Doom was afraid of them, they could send everyone they wanted to against Von Doom for all he cared, and they all would all fall to his power.

His son, however, was not so protected, and Von Doom would tread carefully until the sole heir of Latveria was safely back in his rightful homeland.

Turning, Von Doom glared at the setting sun as a cold chill crept up the dictator's spine. Taking a moment, Von Doom let his power seep out as he searched for the cause of the unsettling feeling.

It took him more then a few moments before the armored king glared at the small town. "A Hellmouth, Von Doom's son was raised on a Hellmouth!" He growled before increasing his pace towards his son's residence.

Von Doom could not allow this transgression to go unpunished.

**Scene Break**

Buffy crept through the graveyard with the stealth of a Slayer, not that it had done any good, after the destruction of the Mayor the underworld population seemed to have found themselves the deepest holes they could and refused to surface.

"Great, after all the excitement today, I really wanted to burn off some of this energy." Buffy complained as she made it to the main road and turned towards her home.

This was her preferred patrol route as it allowed her to check in on both Willow and Xander before she turned in for the night. She was almost to Willow's house when she came across three vampires accosting a man in a costume.

Moving towards them as quietly as she could, Buffy finally caught the ongoing conversation.

"Yeah right, as if any king would just walk around some nowhere little burg like this without any bodyguards." The leader said mockingly as the man seemed to simply stare.

"As if Von Doom is incapable of protecting himself from pathetic filth like you," The man said haughtily from behind the mask.

With a snarl, the vampires charged trying to force the man to the ground by sheer force of numbers.

Moving forward, Buffy stopped as the man launched a counterattack on the trio.

Simply shoving the first to arrive, Buffy blinked as the undead creature flew back with more force then she could have managed.

**Scene Break**

Von Doom ignored the new arrival to the battle as the short intruder simply gaped at the fight. As his first opponent flew away, Victor reached out and gripped the closest enemy by the face and simply allowed a surge of power to pulse down his arm and into his target. With a muffled scream, the corpse disappeared in a flash of light as the vampire disintegrated.

Turning, Von Doom ran directly into the punch from his third aggressor as the vampire launched a powerful roundhouse at the Dictator. Not that it fazed him in the least, if his armor was capable of taking a direct impact from that 'Thing' Ben Grimm had been transformed into, he doubted the miserable strength of an undead would affect him.

Reaching out, Von Doom launched a fireball at the recently risen opponent who had first felt the wrath of Von Doom's might and grinned as it burst into dust.

The only vampire to have actually hit him was currently staring at his mangled hand in shock as his knuckles smoked from contact with the metal shell.

Gripping the corpse around the neck, Von Doom lifted the vampire into the air to stare him in the eye. "The very idea that such as you could harm Doom is insulting. Have I not already banished your species from Doom's lands and only ceased my purge of your kind at the behest of those worms at the Council." The dictator raged before throwing the corpse away in disdain. "Doubt not my sincerity in this matter, filth, should any of your kind cross the path of Doom again I will expunge your race from the face of this planet." Victor Von Doom swore before moving towards his destination.

Had he been alone, Victor held no doubt he would have destroyed the vampire without a second thought.

Only the fact his audience was one of the young people that had assisted his son in the destruction of the scum Wilkins and the stake held firmly in the short female's hand kept him from wiping them all out.

He had an image to maintain after all.

**Scene Break**

Buffy shoved the stake into the vampire as she stared after the man that had destroyed the trio of vampires with the calm assuredness of someone that knew going into the fight that the Sunnydale undead had been outmatched.

"Who was that masked man?" Buffy whispered before taking off in a sprint towards Giles' house.

She really hoped she didn't have to fight that guy.

**Scene Break**

Victor Von Doom reached the address that his child had been held at for the entirety of his young life. Disregarding subtlety, he simply launched a massive kick at the mass produced door of the house.

Stepping past the broken door, Victor was greeted by a sharp pairing knife as it flashed from the kitchen towards his unprotected eye.

Lifting his hand, Von Doom and intercepted the blade inches from his mask, glancing past the knife, Victor blinked as the small form of Jessica Romina launched herself into a flying kick connecting with the back of the knife, jerking his head to the side Victor felt the blade scrape across the side of his helmet.

Shoving the slight woman back, Von Doom launched a bolt of lightning towards his one time lover and smirked as she dropped beneath the blast effortlessly.

"It's good to see you again Jessica." The dictator said softly. "I've missed you too."

**Scene Break**

"Sooooo…." Xander paused as he tried to find some way to break the ice with the armored man that lounged in the chair across from him. "Conquered any small nations recently?" he tried, only to receive a light cuff to the back of his head from his mother.

"Alexander do not take that tone with your father," she reprimanded before turning back to look at the sovereign of Latveria. "Apologies, my lord, he has been raised to believe the western propaganda," Jessica said softly as the dictator waved it aside.

"There is no need love. Doom…" He paused for a second before reaching up and carefully removing his armored mask, "I, would need to get this resolved sooner or later anyway," The infamous villain said before turning towards Xander. "Tell me Alexander, in the fifty years I have ruled Latveria, how many countries have I conquered?" he asked and gave Xander a moment to consider it before pressing on. "My country is bordered by Russia on one side and Germany on the other, both are powers of considerable might and even my considerable force would be hard pressed against one much less both of them," he said as Xander nodded in understanding before he continued. "On the other hand, I retain Genovia and Grand Fenwick as my neighbors against my southern border, both are small with no military to speak of," He paused before smiling "As a matter of fact Grand Fenwick has recently updated their main offensive weapon from the long bow to the breach load musket."

Xander, for his part, blinked as he tried to imagine a country as out of date as that. "Yeah, but," He paused before leaning forward "You're always trying to take over the world," he demanded as the smile reappeared on the dictators face.

"Indeed, Alexander, but let me ask you something. If you're going to get in a fight, would you attack someone that's about your size, or someone that while smaller has been a contender within the Olympics?"

Xander considered that before looking back at his father "So you're just making sure everyone knows you're not going to be pushed around?" he asked incredulously as Von Doom nodded.

"Indeed, Russia and Europe both know that to take my country would be far more costly than they want," He said before he actually chuckled. "And indeed it would court the ire of my neighbor of Grand Fenwick," he explained as Jessica joined in the chuckle.

Xander looked between the two with a confused expression on his face "I think I'm missing something here," he said as the two adults shared an inside joke of some sort.

"It's nothing, Alexander, just the fact that no country would wish to face the 'League of Little Nations' again," His mother explained as Xander just continued to look clueless.

**Scene Break**

"GILES!" Buffy yelled as she rushed into her Watcher's apartment. She was startled when a wicked looking dagger flashed out of the darkness and with a shriek of surprise Buffy flipped backwards as the blade flew over her and disappeared into the night, "GILES! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT KNIVES?" Buffy screamed as she jumped back to her feet and glared at the older man hotly.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Giles stared blearily at the ranting slayer for a moment before his sleep addled mind finally caught up with the situation, "Yes well, perhaps next time some decorum when entering my home would help stave off a repeat performance, especially late at night after having SAVED THE BLOODY WORLD!" Giles yelled irritably before placing his glasses on his nose and turning back to Buffy, "Be that as it may I assume by the immediacy of your entrance that you have something of some importance for me. Let me warn you though, that if you have woken me up just to twitter on about a pair of shoes, I shall be forced to eject you from the building."

Buffy rolled her eyes in annoyance at the last statement, "Try to open a dialogue one time and they never let you hear the end of it," She complained before looking back at Giles as he stared at her, "What?"

"The reason?" he asked and let the statement simmer for a moment before he pressed again, "That you're here?"

"Ooh right, there was this guy, on Oakdale with this really weird armor and cloak and he threw lightning and beat up some vampires," Buffy said before smiling "Just thought you should know."

Giles felt a cold chill creep up his spine as Buffy described the person she had seen, "Good lord, it can't be," He mumbled as the stark terror drained all fatigue from his body.

Buffy blinked as her watcher became very pale and rushed towards his personal book collection, after a moments frantic searching he finally returned with a book that appeared to have actually been written since the advent of the printing press and dropped it on the table, flipping through the book he finally turned it around and showed an image that the slayer wouldn't soon forget, "Hey that's him, that's the guy," She exclaimed happily that the research session wasn't going to take all night.

Giles felt the bottom of his stomach curl up in a ball of frozen acid as Buffy confirmed his worst fear, "Victor Von Doom," he whispered as he leaned back and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Yeah, he kept talking about himself in the third person, which was kinda strange," Buffy declared before shrugging it off "Anyways, how bad can he be, we've already dealt with Mayor McSnake."

Giles tensed as he tried to fathom the level of ignorance needed to NOT know one of the foremost sorcerers and technologically advanced rulers in the world, a man that had personally invaded several hell dimensions, a man that had declared an entire nation off limits to the demonic hordes and made it stick and a man that had spent more time in control of the entire world than most super villains combined.

Taking a deep breath, he finally resettled his glasses before looking back at Buffy, "Very bad Buffy, he can be very, very, bad."

**Scene Break**

Xander sat at the kitchen table and was slowly going over his scrap book with his… father. He had gone over each picture, sharing the story that went with it when an armored hand came down and stopped him from turning the page.

"Who is she?"

Looking down Xander followed the finger to a dark haired beauty that was still a painful subject to the scoobies, "That's Miss Calendar, she and Giles had a thing going for a while until… Angelus killed her."

"Calendar?" Doom asked carefully as he tried to place the familiar face.

"Yeah, well, sort of. She was part of a Gypsy clan that cursed Angelus a long while back and she-"

"Kalderash" Doom stated as the name finally clicked, "She was of the Clan Kalderash."

Looking up Xander finally started to realize exactly how scary his father could be. The look on the man's face held less emotion then the armored mask he wore, but the eyes in them burned with a deep hatred that scared the younger man more than any demon he had yet faced. "Yeah, how did you know?" Xander asked calmly as he locked his terror deep down within himself.

Straightening up, Victor Von Doom clasped his hands behind his back as his rage grew, "Many years ago the Kalderash clan begged sanctuary of Latveria. Generously I agreed and swore the clan and its kin into my service. Three years ago, a Janna Kalderash disappeared from the clan. An unfortunate event as she displayed a keen grasp of both the Supernatural and Technological aspects of the world, some of her works were even on par with my own, older creations."

"You were watching her, weren't you?" Xander asked as he looked back down at the picture.

Taking a deep breath, Von Doom let it out slowly as he tried to control his anger, "Yes, I keep a close eye on those of my subjects that display an… affinity for such things. I support them in their endeavors and guide them onto the paths that will best serve Latveria and her people," the dictator stated and smiled at his son's shocked look "Most don't even know I am aware of them, happily going about their daily lives."

"Ohh... Well, if you want I can show you her tombstone tomorrow," Xander offered as the armored man nodded absently.

"Indeed, I will need to make arrangements for her transport back to Latveria in state," Von Doom stated before noticing Xander's confused look. "She is a subject of Latveria, Alexander. One who died on foreign soil in a war that would be long finished had Von Doom had his way. I shall not have her lie untended in this accursed place if I, as ruler of her homeland, have anything to say about it," Victor declared.

Looking at this man that had been labeled a monster by the world at large, learning he was prepared to do anything for a deceased citizen of his country, Xander began to see how Victor VonDoom could challenge the world time and again. His understanding turned to confusion as the dictator turned towards him.

"And what of this 'Angelus,' does he yet live?" VonDoom asked and his expression became even more cold as his son nodded in response. "Then that too shall be dealt with," he declared and waved a hand to cut off his son's protests. "No one, for any reason, at any time, shall cause harm to one of my people. To cause harm to one is to cause harm to all, to cause harm to all is to cause harm to Latveria, and to cause harm to Latveria is to cause harm to 'Me.' That is something that No one should attempt lightly."

And 'that' was something that Xander at least understood.

**Scene Break**

In Los Angeles, California, Angel shivered as he walked away from the two vampires he had just dusted. He turned and looked for anything that he could attribute the feeling of unease to that he was now feeling.

After a moment of futile search, he finally shrugged it off and headed back toward the hotel.

**Scene Break**

Giles shifted some books as he read through every document he had on VonDoom, Buffy was currently looking through the books beside him while Willow and Oz searched online for anything more substantial than rumors. Alexander was currently the only member not available as the contact number they had for him been busy every time they had called.

"Buffy, look through the Teratral Chronicles please and look for any mention of 'Mal'athena' the man of Doom? I believe I read that in there once and I would like to see if that is a reference to Von Doom," Giles said as Buffy sighed and moved towards another book.

"I don't get it Giles, I mean he's just one man. I know he's a sorcerer and all, but I've dealt with magic users before. What's the big deal?" Buffy complained as Giles resisted the urge to beat his head against the table.

Looking up at the slayer, the Watcher finally sighed, "Buffy, when Victor Von Doom took control of Latveria it was just like every other country. Demons and ghosts and what have you, it even has an active Hellmouth under the capital city. Within one year the demonic forces had two options, flee or die. Von Doom suffered no interference and the Council was warned that any attempt to Kidnap one of his citizens no matter what their destiny may be, would be seen as a declaration of war." Giles explained before rubbing his eyes at the blank stare Buffy had.

"Very well let me put it in a slightly more understandable perspective for you. If Lothos, The Master, Angelus, Spike, Kakistos and every other vampire you have faced in your admittedly spectacular career as a slayer were to return from the dead and attempt to charge at him across a line in the sand, not one would cross that line as anything more than dust. If the Judge was somehow reintegrated yet again and attacked the dictator, Victor Von Doom would likely consider him a minor nuisance he could keep to study and destroy at his convenience."

The looks of disbelief on the young teens' faces were enough to convince him he needed to try harder. "Very well, do you remember the sisterhood of Jhe a few month's back?" He asked and continued at their nods, "Two years ago there we're over a thousand members of that cult. They attempted to open the Latverian Hellmouth much as the ones here did, the members we fought we're the few deemed too weak or stupid to be a part of that attack as none from that force ever made it back out of that country."

Buffy blinked at that as she tried imagine fighting so many demons at once, "That's not possible Giles, I'm the slayer and I had a hard time fighting them. How could one man take out so many?" Buffy argued as the Watcher settled his glasses on his nose and turned back to his book.

"I don't know Buffy, but until we find out what he is doing in Sunnydale and whether it is a threat to us and the world at large, I would recommend we avoid any action that may anger Victor Von Doom."

**Scene Break**

Victor Von Doom walked through the Sunnydale morning with his normal, purposeful stride. With the mask removed and his usual armor replaced with a concealed version, he appeared as nothing more exceptional than a well off and focused businessman intent on his work; no one even suspected the cause for his haste.

The fact of the matter was that Richard Wilkins was dead, a situation that, while applauded by Von Doom, added several very disturbing problems to the dictator.

Many decades earlier, there had been a gathering of powers; Victor Von Doom, Richard Wilkins, bTsan Saa, the Watchers Council and several others had congregated to make a decision about the Hellmouths.

It had been decided that each of the seven Hellmouths would be active for five years and dormant for the next thirty, allowing them to focus on other things and not become worn down by centuries of fighting. Victor had offered to keep his active indefinitely, protected as it was within his home country, but his offer had been politely declined by Richard Wilkins. The Mage had warned about depending on one guardian too much, as effective as that one may be.

And so the gathered forces had accepted the man's words, followed in step as he led them down a path of his own choosing and prepared for his final ascension.

Von Doom and Latveria had shouldered that first terrible wave of demonic attacks. As the dictator had struggled with the angry superpowers around him, his own country had nearly been consumed by the darkness; the final straw was the attack on his family. Weakened from a fight with Reed Richards' Four and a demonstration against Russia's Titanium Man to keep them from moving on his country, Von Doom had returned to his homeland only to be attacked by assassins aided by several demonic entities in an attempted coup. A coup that had damaged a large portion of Castle Von Doom, making him believe his wife and unborn son dead in the rubble.

In a blind rage, the dictator had risen from the ashes of his grief as a new and terrible force. The demons had been routed from his borders, a hundred of his personal DoomBots guarded the Hellmouth at all times now and the assassins had been "reprimanded" and several members of his government had been retired in a very permanent way. That had been the one and only time his subjects had ever truly been afraid of him, they had cowered before him and fled from his presence at the first chance.

It was the first time the Invincible Man had ever truly felt beaten. His rage had doubled at the sight of Reed Richards proclaiming his defeat to the entire world and lauding his group as guardians of freedom.  
He had nearly killed them for that. Victor had been within seconds of detonating a bomb placed under the Baxter building that would have leveled the structure in moments; the only reason that the famed team was still alive was the sight of a young girl curled up at the gates of Doomstadt trying to stay out of the cold.

Taking a breath, the ruler had looked out over his lands for the first time since his loss and truly saw the damage; from the coup and his personal witch hunt, much of his capital was ruined or damaged. Rising from his broken castle, Von Doom had set about repairing and healing his country before turning his focus towards the world outside his borders.

The Hellmouth, the attempted assassination and coup and the punishment of Richards were set aside for another time as he focused on what was important.

**Scene Break**

Buffy sighed as she looked out into the early morning sunlight. A part of her wanted to jump and sing at the thought of another day, safe and sound thanks to Slayer and Co. Another part of her wanted to flip the bright ball of gas the bird and snuggle back down into her fluffy warm covers.

A greater part of her though, wanted to strangle her Watcher for keeping her up all night looking into the appearance of Victor Von Doom. In the past fourteen hours she had learned more about the reclusive super villain than she ever wanted. It had even brought up repressed memories of her Hemory High, Bitch queen days when she had belittled the assembled heroes' and villains' sense of dress.

While she had actually seen several reports concerning Doctor Doom during that time, she had ignored the green caped villain in favor of her childhood crush, Johnny Storm.

Of course, ever since she had become a hero in her own right Buffy had less and less time to focus on the goings on around the world and spent even more time focusing on keeping her little piece of crazy spinning.

Maybe she should move to New York, they seemed to have their share of heroes that could lend a hand.

**Scene Break**

Cordelia Chase stood proudly before her cousin as the woman looked her over carefully. Before the IRS had gotten a hold of them, Cordelia's mother had barely spoken of her sister. While Charisma Allandra Sanders had married into the Chase fortune, her sister Anastasia had married into the violent Sablinova family. Cordelia had been raised on the belief that her aunt and cousin were part of some Mafia group before her Aunt Anastasia had been killed.

Recently though, Cordelia had discovered her cousin's real occupation and after a short hesitation, had contacted her. Looking her cousin over, Cordelia could see the family resemblance. While the hair was as far away from her own as it was possible to get, Silver Sable held herself in the same assured manner that Cordelia had adopted after she had started helping out with the slaying.

"You wished to speak with me?" Silver Sable stated as she took careful note of her cousin's subtle looks behind her into the picture windows reflection before hiding her smile. While not her primary focus, she did have some experience with the supernatural and found the girl's caution humorous.

The primary Bankroller for Symkaria lost all hints of amusement as a very familiar face stormed past her hotel window. Blinking in shock at the unmasked man, Silver turned in a rush and fled the room.

Behind her, Cordelia stared after her cousin before rolling her eyes and asking, "Why do I always go after them?" She continued to mutter to herself while following after the leader of the Wild Pack.

**Scene Break**

"Victor"

Turning to the voice, Von Doom took note of one of the few people on the planet outside of Latveria to actually know him in a personal manner. "Madame Sable," he said with a slight bow before rising again. "You will forgive me if I don't stop to chat but there is a slight issue I must attend to first." He announced before turning back towards the Hellmouth.

Speeding up slightly, Silver Sable matched his purposeful stride with an ease of a soldier long accustomed to forced marches. "Will I distract you from this issue or shall I tag along," she asked and smiled at the dictators questioning glance. "Long experience has told me that you are a focal point of conflict Milord. Where you go, trouble always follows and it is best to get it out of the way quickly."

Smiling at the slightly mocking tone, Victor challenged her statement in his own defense, "Trouble does not follow me my lady Silver, I am merely a poor survivor of interesting times."

Her unladylike snort of humor drew a small glare from Victor before she pressed the issue, "That time at the beach?"

"Was a rogue Russian nuclear sub, I assured you then and I reassure you now I had nothing to do with its destruction or how it landed in Red Square," He announced with a slight smirk at their ongoing game. "And if I remember correctly, you seemed rather friendly with those well dressed men from Armenia."

"Case of mistaken identity, they thought I was a movie star and wanted to escort me to the 'shoot'," she lied easily before continuing. "After we settled everything, they apologized and were on their way, but that time in Cairo?"

"I believe I should, 'Take the Fifth' as the Americans say, on that one. After all, how was I to know they meant it when they said not to tear off that little tag on the mattresses." He defended.

Laughing at the antics few others in the world would ever see, Silver shrugged. "Well once they rebuilt the one pyramid and tore off the nose you added to the sphinx the country managed to get back to its everyday life." She mocked before continuing with the dictator.

Behind them Cordelia Chase growled as she stomped after the duo that had so easily forgotten she existed as she wondered why her life couldn't ever be simple.

**Scene Break**

"Aha!" Giles shouted happily snapping the dozing teens out of their slumber and forcing Buffy to drop the battle axe she had picked up once startled. "In the late fourteenth century a Hellmouth was formed in what is modern day Latveria with a prophecy that a 'Kingdom of Doom' was to be heralded forth by Isaac the Petulant, a Frenchmen of some small renown… very small it seems." Giles explained before adjusting his glasses "Well, suffice it to say, Isaac came down with a rather nasty case of death thanks primarily to a group of wandering bandits armed with a crossbow and some random farm implements. But the prophecy has all the earmarks of a true legacy, should Von Doom open the Hellmouth, he may very well conquer all the realms… In this case, America and lead the world into a decade of darkness and assorted… cheeses." He trailed off as the younger generation just stared at him "Yes, well I do suppose there has been some confusion on the exact wording and the translation, it is rather tricky."

Smiling at finally having discovered something, Buffy bounced slightly in her seat before realization struck. "This means I have to go back to school doesn't it." She grumbled.

Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, at times he wondered if searching for repentance was worth the effort.

**Scene Break**

Xander woke up with a start as his Hellmouth honed instincts kicked into overdrive and his hand wrapped around the stake he kept nearby in the event of a crisis before calming down at the sound of his mother's voice calling to get him up.

"Alexander, it's time to wake up."

Groaning at the early (for him) hour, Xander rolled over and froze. For the second straight day in a row, a blood curdling scream echoed through what had once been the Harris household.

Looking down at her uniform, Jessica wondered at her son's reaction. It was the first time anyone had ever responded like that, even Natasha had stolen the general design for her own use, although from what she remembered, Natasha's was a bit more modest. Maybe once she managed to pry Alexander off the wall he would be willing to explain.

**Scene Break**

Walking up to the school, Von Doom took note of the guards placed strategically around the perimeter and frowned. While the majority wore the uniform of a rather bland and unassuming local security firm, Victor would no more call them rent-a-cops than he would expect someone to call him normal. They stood with the precision of military personnel with the institutionalized arrogance of some of the 'official' Special Forces, masking the movement under the guise of checking the traffic.

Von Doom turned towards his companion, expecting her to be professional enough to notice the same things he had. Victor was not disappointed.

"Do you remember Frankfurt, my dear?" he asked and noticed her entire posture change, gone was the subdued business woman she wore as a mask while not hunting and the slightly more defiant posture of someone working in a male dominated atmosphere was taken.

Stepping quickly across the street, Von Doom and Silver were not surprised when one of the guards quickly moved to intercept, his computer generated warning was quickly cut off as the duo pulled ID's and flashed them before the startled grunt, "Vincent Kismet and Martina Hoary, FBI California southwest District, we are investigating the possibility of a bombing at the school," Von Doom said, nodding to the rubble behind the pseudo guard before letting him take the ID without concern. Vincent Kismet was indeed registered as an FBI agent. While he may not have the abilities to fake Stark or Richards' computer systems, he was more than capable of sneaking an identity into an organization that still used the DMV files for background checks. While he wasn't sure, he would bet pounds to pesos Silver Sable's people would have worked her in in much the same way. He was somewhat surprised, however, when the dark haired female leaned between them with a similar ID.

"Kara Hunt Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Special Attaché to the FB I." Cordelia announced without pause.

**Scene Break**


End file.
